A Weekend in the City
by OrangeStarExpress
Summary: What's there to say? A troubled demi-Saiyan teen, an unexpressed passion, the antics of Satan City, and one weekend to let it all out.


**Title:** A Weekend in the City

**Disclaimer: **I don't own a thing, unfortunately.

**Author: **OrangeStarExpress

**Pairing(s):** Gohan/ Videl

**Comments: **Welcome devoted readers and lurkers alike! AWiTC is a look into the short time gap between Videl's flight lessons and the World Tournament set in one crazy weekend inspired by Bloc Party's 'A Weekend in the City' Enjoy.

**Soundtrack:** Uniform – Bloc Party

**A Weekend in the City**

Chapter 1 – Friday Angst

There he was wrapped in a safe haven of sheets and cushions which shielded him from the dreadfully cold air of reality. In them he found warmth and solace, if only for a few hours a night. As the protector of Earth he was deserving of this bit of comfort, but as the son of Chi-Chi and a now _late _student of Orange Star High School he was, to put it quite frankly—_Toast._

It was mornings like this he'd wonder why he'd never gotten around to getting that alarm clock on his shopping list after all these months.

"GOHAN!" a fuming Chi-Chi stormed into the room of the two Sons, looming over the elder.

"If you think for one minute you'll get away with flushing your future down the drain while you're living in _my _household, you have another thing coming mister!" she berated, stripping the sheets that clung to the startled but half-asleep demi-Saiyan's limp body.

Oh, that's why he hadn't remembered to get that alarm clock… Every siren, blow horn, bell, and whistle in the world couldn't compete with _that._

"Ugh, not again!" he screamed inwardly as he came to the realization of what was happening.

Gohan quickly sprung from his much too short-lived state of comfort and sluggishly but determinedly pushed his disoriented body out the door, grabbing his school bag and dodging Chi-Chi's verbal assault along the way.

"Erasa"

"Here!"

"Sharpner"

"Here…"

"Videl"

"Present"

"Angela"

"Right here!"

"Gohan"

Roll call for first period was well under way with no goofy demi-Saiyan in sight. Of course this wasn't really unusual considering this must've been the hundredth time he stumbled in late for the semester, but nonetheless he was in the top 1% of his class.

"Gohan… Son Gohan" the blonde, small framed English teacher called to no avail.

"Oh brother, I wonder what his excuse'll be this time…" Erasa rolled her eyes nimbly as she twiddled her hair in boredom.

"He's probably helping a flock of elderly women cross the road" Sharpner sneered, furrowing his brow at the expression of annoyance painted on Videl's features. She was clearly… Unamused by his sheepish remarks.

"What's the matter, did I insult your _little boyfriend?"_ he prodded her side hoping to push her buttons.

Oh he was doing much more than that; he was on a one-way trip to the land of the unconscious—complete with revolving twinkling stars and serenading birds.

"Idiot. Need I remind you just _who _sent you to the infirmary during dodge ball yesterday?" she retorted, smirking as she replayed the scene in her mind of 'accidentally' knocking Sharpner unconscious as the red rubber blur she launched nearly exploded against his presumably empty skull.

Sharpner fell back to his seat averting his eyes from the two with a disgruntled look on his face.

"You caught me off guard was all, I guarantee you it _won't_ happen again." He said gruffly trying to keep the embarrassment out of his voice.

"Sure." Videl snorted as Erasa amusedly watched the heated exchange between her two best friends relent.

"Late, late, late! C'mon, faster nimbus!" Gohan let out an exasperated sigh as he continually checked his watch; surely he was going to have to have another _talk _with the director about his frequent tardiness.

"Almost there! I'll take it from here nimbus, thanks old buddy" he hopped off from his old golden friend and proceeded to close the distance between himself and Orange Star on the effort of his own invisible wings, inadvertently biting his tongue in fear of being spotted by someone, _again_.. Or so he initially thought.

The onyx-eyed Z-fighter alighted gracefully atop the roof and, thankfully, no one was there to give him a heart attack this time around. He rushed down the stair well into the school hoping he wouldn't bring too much attention to himself as the lone source of noise stampeding down the halls with questionable Saiyan speed—for which there would most definitely be another _talk _awaiting him_._

Gohan stopped before the door of his first period English class to regain his composure; he was panting heavily and didn't exactly look… Well, all together.

He gingerly pulled open the door and immediately gained the attention of the entire class, desperation in their tired eyes as the shrill-voiced teacher went on about proverbs and whatnot.

"Well, well, well… How nice of you to join us Mr. Son… You've managed to interrupt yet another lesson" she said tartly as he nervously extended his arm down his back.

"Thank God" A red-haired student from the back of the class sneered under his breath breaking the tension in the room as a few snickers arose from the silence.

She promptly shot the student a knowing look and turned back to Gohan who was now trying to slowly make his way back to his seat.

"Any particular reason why you are tardy for the 3rd time this week, Mr. Son?" she narrowed her eyes at him examining his disheveled appearance closely.

"Well-I-uh… T-Traffic—"

"Enough, you've wasted enough of this class's valuable time as it is, Mr. Son… I'll have a word with you after the bell. You may take your seat now." she interjected before resuming her lesson.

Gohan's face fell as he searched through his bag to find he'd left his English textbook in his locker the afternoon before. He wouldn't dare ask to be excused after all that… There was just no way.

"What happened to you?" Erasa gazed down to the frantically searching demi-Saiyan inquisitively.

"I—"

Just then a beeping noise followed by an all too fraught voice came through the radio of Videl's watch before the distressed Gohan could answer.

"Videl! There's been a robbery down at the Satan City Museum of Culture & History. A group of thugs are trying to make off with the King's crown jewel and are heavily armed!" the Captain spoke hysterically between gunshots.

"Right, I'm on my way." Videl turned to Gohan and nodded curtly

She waved off to the teacher who gave her an understanding nod and shot out of the door in less than a few seconds… Oh boy, Gohan couldn't possibly ask for worse timing.

He rose to his feet from his post slumped over in his seat hesitatively and swallowed the lump in his throat anticipating a detention for walking out of class again, or _worse_…

"Ms. M-may I be ex—"

"Sit DOWN Mr. Son, unless you want to find yourself scrubbing my floors afterschool for the rest of the _year_." she gave him the death glare as he continued to defy her commands.

"Oh please, he'd probably scrub the whole school free of charge if he could" Sharpner added dryly

"It's an emergency!" he rushed down the stairs and out the door at an even faster pace than Videl leaving the blonde instructor jaw-dropped at the young man's audacity.

"Oh man, I'm _really_ gonna get it now" Gohan groaned as he pushed open door after door in a rush to catch up with his newly found partner in crime…fighting...

"What are your demands…" an individual with a brown overcoat and classic detective's hat spoke coolly through a police megaphone.

"Hey, who are you? Gimme that!" the Captain snatched the device from the fraud detective, shaking his head as the fake ran into the street, tripping over himself several times.

"…What are your demands?" the heavyset officer repeated, feeling slightly foolish at the banality of his words.

"We want a chopper, and a nice 5 million Zeni to go with this here crown!" a large stern-faced man with slightly ruffled swept back jet black hair called peering out from the main entrance

"We've got hostages so don't try anything funny, chumps!" a veritably smaller stocky bald accomplice shouted holding the barrel of his gun firmly against the back of a more-than-terrified tourist woman.

Wasting no time after blowing out of the school's main entrance, Gohan quickly took to the air switching to his trademark Saiyaman outfit. In almost no time at all the flying fashion atrocity appeared in the rearview mirror of Videl's capsule copter—a sight she still really couldn't get used to, blinking twice as she slowed down to be at his level.

"I wonder how much longer it'll take before I can fly like that…" she mused opening the door to the passenger seat of the vehicle.

"Thanks…" the orange-green hero said in an unusually blasé tone. Something was wrong; she could sense it immediately due to the boy's inability to mask his emotions as well as he could mask his own features with that stupid bucket on his head.

"Are you alright? You were a complete mess this morning." She said glancing over at the distraught demi-Saiyan who seemed to be off in a daze. Yeah, that was sure to make him feel better.

"Um hello, Earth to Gohan!" she waved a hand over his face trying to snap him out of his own little world before momentarily losing control of the copter sending it plummeting through the clouds.

"Videl! I- uh… I'm just not feeling well is all" he murmured the last part as if ashamed of his own short-comings in the art of deception.

"Yeah right Gohan, It's obvious there's more to it than that… Spill it now." she kept her gaze on the view in front of her this time.

Videl hated secrets, truly she did—especially Gohan's secrets as their seemed to be a limitless supply of them.

"Well… I just don't know if I can keep doing this anymore, I'm _always_ getting in trouble for my 'emergency bathroom trips'. I'm sure the whole school thinks I have some kind of chronic bladder problem by now…" he finished.

Sensing the sincerity in his voice she accepted his answer for what it was worth and gave him a tepid smirk at the thought she was literally _hunting _this boy just days before.

"I see, so you don't want to come with me anymore? You don't have to you know…" a slight frown crept over her face, just for a moment.

"No, no, no it's not like that!" he waved his hands frantically trying to search for the right words as she gave him an amused look.

"I really do like spending time with you out here, it's just that I—"he paused for a second as her face turned an interesting shade of red. "I just need to think about it is all." he saved.

"Well, it would spare me from having to be seen with _that_" she giggled softly gesturing to his outfit as his face erupted into a nervous sheepish grin.

A few minutes of awkward silence passed before the two alighted near the active crime scene where they promptly headed over to the Captain for a quick briefing.

"Videl! Saiyaman! The goons are held up in the museum foyer. Be careful, they've got hostages!" the Captain was a bit confused as to why those two were showing up together more often than not… Was there something going on between them? Of course not, why was he thinking about this anyway, _lives_ were at stake!

"Right, worry not noble officer of the law, Great Saiyaman is here!" he broke out into an unflattering 'heroic' pose causing Videl to fall roughly to the ground in embarrassment.

"Uh… And Ms. Satan, of course." he helped her to her feet and the two went about their usual plan of action—kicking ass and taking names.

"Halt cruel villains!" Gohan shouted in his overdramatic Saiyaman voice dropping in slowly from the ceiling he'd just punctured.

"How the hell did he get in here?" a slender-faced henchmen with a light buzz cut spat, unfazed by the Hero's display of flight. They'd passed it off as some sort of magic trick, and they weren't about to be fooled by _that_ oversized trick or treater.

"Well, well, well if it isn't the great Sailorman" the gruff leader of the group scoffed.

"SAIYAMAN, It's SAI-YA-MAN" Gohan pleaded exasperatedly

"Will you shut up and save us already?"A tied up doubled over elderly museum curator implored.

"Keep quiet old man! One more word out of you and you'll be sleeping with that mummy over there!" the thug gestured over to the ancient Egyptian tomb near the entrance… Wait, something was wrong here. He could've sworn there were more hostages a minute ago… And who was that girl!

"What the—you're Mr. Satan's brat aren't you? What the hell have you done to my hostages!" the criminals screamed bloody murder inwardly, how could they have been so stupid to let that floating dork in a cape distract them from the other hostages?

"I ate them, idiot. What do you think I did with them?" she leaned against the wall with her eyes shut, arms folded across her chest, and mouth frozen in a smirk all too reminiscent of a certain Saiyan prince's.

"You're not very good at this are you?" she pointed a finger at the spot Gohan had just been as she shook her head and proceeded to walk towards the doorway

"Huh? He's gone now too?" the short bald goon scratched his waxed head perplexed by the situation. This was quickly turning into some kind of magic show.

"Just WHERE do you think YOU'RE going? You'll bring a nice profit from that father of yours" the leader scowled rubbing his hands together in anticipation of the dough he'd make away with from that Hercule fool once they'd kidnapped his spawn.

Two of the goons made the mistake of attempting to stop the exiting girl and found themselves doubled over on the cold tiled floor after having been dealt a round house kick to the face each.

"Why YOU! I'll teach you to mess with—"the leader slung his weapon over his shoulder and brought its sights to the back of the brat casually walking out of the building as if nothing had happened—only a swift leg sweep from seemingly nowhere stopped him from pulling the trigger and sent him reeling to the floor with a loud thud.

"I think not… You big _meanie_"

Videl gagged mid-stride and fell roughly to the ground once more at the demi-Saiyan's stupid phrases. Gohan was certainly not getting the hang of this one-liner business, he'd keep trying though, unfortunately.

Gohan turned to face the remaining thugs whose jaws hit the ground in total hysteria. They dropped their weapons at their posts and scrambled for the entrance where they were quickly tackled and arrested by Satan City's finest in blue… After someone else had done their job for them, _again_.

The demi-Saiyan proceeded to untie the grumpy curator who was now murmuring about the incessant buffoonery of today's youth. Nonetheless, he secretly thanked the lad for his heroism.

"Hey Videl! Wait up!" a trailing Gohan called as the young Satan entered the cockpit of her capsule copter. She did not turn to face him, or rather she _couldn't_ bring herself to face him knowing she could not fully well risk the possibility of blurting out everything she'd felt about him in the past few days, or even since they'd met, as if popping a balloon of pent up emotions, thoughts, and feelings. No, only lesser women gave in to such primal desires.

This was truly becoming increasingly difficult to suppress with each passing day—no matter how goofy or naïve he was— there was something so uniquely pure and different about him (besides the super strength, speed, ability to fly, and other attributes usually endowed to comic book characters) something that just seemed to scream Son Gohan.

The demi-Saiyan laid a now un-gloved hand on the girl's shoulder causing her to inadvertently shiver as she whipped her gaze up to meet his—Oh what a mistake that was. There was a look of longing in his onyx pools, a look that bore into her soul, a sentiment that only lonely people knew.

"In a hurry?" he half-smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

Videl sat there for a moment sifting through her thoughts before sliding her gaze down to the controls of the vehicle once more.

"We probably shouldn't fly back together… If someone sees us they'll get suspicious." She perked her head up at the eerie silence following her words.

"Huh… Oh, right! I just came by to see you off is all…" the demi-Saiyan ran his fingers through the back of his spikey locks and laughed in spite of himself.

'_Of course I can't fly back with her, Son Gohan you doofus, then everyone will know I'm Saiyaman if they see us!' _he mused figuratively beating himself up.

In reality he knew this in the back of his mind all along, truth being he didn't actually care if someone saw them, truth being he was an awful liar—even to himself, and truth being the crystal-eyed girl's words jabbed at his heart. In these moments he just wanted to be normal, he just wanted _her_.

"I'll see you later, Son Gohan; try not to get into any more trouble today!" with that she swiftly gained altitude and blasted off towards Orange Star leaving Gohan in the dust, literally.

And not since she'd left had the wind blown, a fragile silence broken only by the inner quarrel raging on within him. The specks of debris which had been kicked up by the propulsion of the craft, stinging the skin of his cheek, had settled now. As the vanishing dot of her image faded into the distant horizon he felt himself slip back into a state of anxiety, a state far from the comfort of her essence. Why did he always find himself there?

—END CHAPTER 1—

_Post-chapter notes: _Ahh yes, all things must end. Lucky for you there's something called a review button that'll allow you to get more of this here story!


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